more from this thinker     |     more from this text

Single Idea 8050

[filed under theme 24. Political Theory / A. Basis of a State / 3. Natural Values / c. Natural rights ]

Full Idea

There are no natural or human rights, and belief in them is one with belief in witches and in unicorns.

Gist of Idea

There are no natural or human rights, and belief in them is nonsense

Source

Alasdair MacIntyre (After Virtue: a Study in Moral Theory [1981], Ch. 6)

Book Ref

MacIntyre,Alasdair: 'After Virtue: a Study in Moral Theory' [Duckworth 1982], p.67

A Reaction

His point is that the notion of 'rights' only arises out of a community. However, while you might criticise an individual for absurdly asserting all sorts of dubious rights, no one could criticise them if they asserted the right to defend their own life.

The 22 ideas with the same theme [rights that seem to belong to any living creature]:

7402 Everyone has a right of self-preservation, and harming others is usually unjustifiable [Grotius, by Tuck]
7412 Spinoza extended Hobbes's natural rights to cover all possible desires and actions [Spinoza, by Tuck]
19914 In nature everything has an absolute right to do anything it is capable of doing [Spinoza]
19915 Natural rights are determined by desire and power, not by reason [Spinoza]
19866 The rational law of nature says we are all equal and independent, and should show mutual respect [Locke]
19872 The animals and fruits of the earth belong to mankind [Locke]
19907 There is a natural right to inheritance within a family [Locke]
3732 Rational beings have a right to share in the end of an action, not just be part of the means [Kant]
21082 A power-based state of nature may not be unjust, but there is no justice without competent judges [Kant]
21071 There can be no restraints on freedom if reason does not reveal some basic rights [Kant]
20977 Natural rights are nonsense, and unspecified natural rights is nonsense on stilts [Bentham]
21785 We are only free, with rights, if we claim our freedom, and there are no natural rights [Hegel, by Houlgate]
22790 We cannot assert rights which are unnatural [Hegel]
3773 No individual has the right to receive our benevolence [Mill]
3774 Rights are a matter of justice, not of benevolence [Mill]
14822 If self-defence is moral, then so are most expressions of 'immoral' egoism [Nietzsche]
23836 Obligations only bind individuals, not collectives [Weil]
21940 Nature is not the basis of rights, but the willingness to risk death in asserting them [Foucault]
8050 There are no natural or human rights, and belief in them is nonsense [MacIntyre]
7595 The idea of a right seems fairly basic; justice may be the disposition to accord rights to people [Scruton]
5660 Allegiance is prior to the recognition of individual rights [Scruton]
23262 Experience, sympathy and history are sensible grounds for laying claim to rights [Grayling]